Poverty prompts sale of ‘Oscar child’, Clinton offers resolution

Rafiq Qureshi admits he did try to give away his child for some money and is convinced he was right doing that.

“Yes, we are considering Rubina’s future,” he told the News of the World journalists, who approached him in disguise of a wealthy Middle Eastern family interested in Ali’s illegal adoption. “I have to consider what’s best for me, my family and Rubina’s future.”

‘Slumdog Millionaire’ might have brought worldwide acclaim to the makers and its lead actors, but the little slum kids from Mumbai who initiated the story have had to tough it out in their dwellings. Previously, it had been reported that the poor children, on returning from the Oscars, were beaten up by their parents only because they wanted to rest for a few hours after the long journey.

Qureshi had earlier criticized the ‘Slumdog’ production for not giving him and his family enough, for Rubina’s role in the movie.

But, besides the salaries from the film, trusts were established for Ali and her fellow young star Azharuddin Ismail. The trusts are meant to take care of the children’s education, emergency medical costs and living expenses till they turn 18, after which they can avail of the money.
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The filmmakers reportedly went further than helping only the kids of ‘Slumdog Millionaire’. They donated $747,500 to Plan, an international children’s charity, to better the lives of some 5,000 poor kids of Mumbai, over the next five years.

But after Slumdog’s success, Rubina Ali, probably unaware of the coldhearted trade around her life, became special, and for her father, expensive. He demanded $295,000 for his daughter, way up from the initially quoted $75,000.

"The child is special now," Qureshi told the disguised reporter. "This is NOT an ordinary child. This is an Oscar child!"

Meanwhile, the news has triggered a strong reaction from former president Bill Clinton, who offered a solution for the poverty-struck slum-dwellers of Mumbai. Citing a scene from the movie, he said, the kids are shown running around in “Mumbai landfill — an endless garbage dump of hundreds and hundreds of acres — and there are people living there scavenging in the dump just looking for something to do. We’re trying to help places [like that] close those dumps and turn them from public nuisance into a moneymaker.”

Clinton suggested that parents like Querishi could make a living without having to use their children as meal tickets. “The scavengers can make a living as recyclers and earn enough money to make a living,” he said.